The habit of dishwashing by hand usually involves the use of two key components, namely a dishwashing composition and an applicator device. The applicator device is usually some sort of brush, cloth or sponge and is designed to be used over a period or weeks or months, owing to the cost. The habit of the user is thus to use the applicator to clean the dishware, rinse it after use and leave it on the side of the sink until the next time. However there is evidence to suggest that even after rinsing the applicator, food and other soil residues can remain on the applicator, providing a feeding ground for bacteria.
One method of combating this problem, as previously described in the prior art is a dishwashing composition comprising antibacterial agents. When using an antibacterial dishwashing composition, the user is encouraged to leave the applicator on the side of the sink still containing antibacterial detergent composition. The antibacterial agents thus disinfect the applicator in between uses. The Applicants have found an alternative solution to this problem by providing a disposable dishwashing wipe, which is intended for a limited number of uses only, for example one week, one day or one use. After use the consumer is instructed to discard the wipe. This solution has the additional benefit in that the user is no longer concerned, rightly or wrongly, with the presence of residues of antibacterial agents on dishware.
The Applicants have also found that consumers believe the task of dishwashing to be inconvenient since it requires a number of different applicators for example a cloth, scrubber, brush etc and a bottle of a dishwashing composition. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention the Applicants have also sought to address this problem by providing an all-in-one disposable dishwashing wipe which provides both an applicator, capable of cleaning and scrubbing even tough food soils/residues and sufficient dishwashing composition to get the job done.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention the wipe comprises features which increase the general stiffness of the wipe. Traditional dishcloths are made from relatively flexible fabric making them useful for reaching into the corners of dishware, but are difficult to grip. On the other hand, a scourer or scrubbing sponge is comparatively less flexible and is consequently easier to grip, but is not sufficiently pliable to reach into the corners of dishware. Dishwashing wipes of the type discussed herein can tend to have flexibility of the same order as traditional dishcloths. It is therefore a further benefit of the present dishwashing wipes in that they can be manufactured so as to provide an appropriate level of stiffness in order to balance the needs for gripping the wipe and pliability to reach into corners.
In particular, it would be desirable to improve the stiffness of the wipe when wet. Traditional dishcloths tend to have relatively low stiffness both when dry and when wet. Dish care wipes can give relatively high stiffness when dry, but the stiffness tends to decrease significantly when the wipe is wet. The same applies to synthetic sponges, which exhibit very high dry stiffness, but significantly reduced wet stiffness. In a preferred aspect of the invention the wipe comprises features which increase the ratio of wet stiffness to dry stiffness.